Michael Lombardi on recruiting under-the-radar prospects: ‘We believe in our eyes’

North Carolina‘s staff is star-studded. However, the program isn’t only interested in established star players. Last week, Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi discussed the program’s strategy of recruiting underrated prospects.

“We believe in our eyes,” Lombardi said. “Red Auerbach has a great saying: ‘We get our information from looking, not from talking.’ So I think if you trust your eyes and you evaluate players, it doesn’t really matter if some other school wants them.

“All I know is from my 35 years or more in the National Football League, I’ve drafted players that weren’t recruited out of high school. I’ve drafted players that had no scholarship offers coming out of high school. There’s always going to be a lot of guys that get missed, and I think you have to trust your instincts and trust your eyes.”

Lombardi has the résumé to back up his talk. The 65-year-old has served as the Cleveland Browns’ general manager, the Oakland Raiders’ senior personnel executive and the Philadelphia Eagles’ director of pro personnel during his extensive career.

Simply put, he isn’t your average college football GM. He’s a veteran of the game who only a coach like Bill Belichick could convince to coach at the collegiate level. Lombardi is bringing fresh ideas to the collegiate ranks with him.

Instead of spending the program’s entire NIL budget to land one or two five-star prospects, Lombardi and North Carolina’s staff are searching for players who could blossom into stars at UNC.

North Carolina hasn’t wasted any time. The program has added 19 players via the transfer portal this offseason and is already recruiting out of the high school ranks. Michael Lombardi believes North Carolina has one of the best recruiting pitches of any program in the country.

“I’m fortunate. I work for a great university,” Lombardi said. “This is one of the top universities in America. It’s harder to get into this school for an out-of-state person than it is to get into Yale or Harvard. They don’t take very many and the enrollment is small. So we have a great brand. This UNC logo is worldwide. So we shouldn’t limit ourselves.

“We can walk into any school and say, ‘We’re North Carolina, we have the greatest coach in the history of football, and we have a great university. Come play for us.’ I think it’s a powerful message. And so why should we limit ourselves to just a smaller footprint?

“It allows you to look all over the country for the players to fit you. So we’re going to be a national program, and we’re not going to back down to some other programs because we’re in North Carolina. We’ll stand on any firm ground against anyone.”